Rangers rally for three straight, make it three straight

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

The New York Rangers rallied for three unanswered goals to beat the New Jersey Devils in overtime, making it three straight wins for the Blueshirts. Trailing 3-1 in the third period, all on powerplay goals, the Rangers scored twice in the third and once in overtime to collect the two points against a Metropolitan Division rival. Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t at the top of his game, allowing the three powerplay goals, but the Rangers picked him up when he needed it.

Chris Mueller, who has been impressive, and Chris Kreider notched a goal and an assist each. Rick Nash scored the tying goal, and Kevin Klein became the first Rangers defenseman to score this season, collecting the overtime winner after a nice feed by Kreider. Oh, and the Rangers scored twice on the powerplay. How about that?

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Devils 0

Kreider made a good play to keep puck control along the neat boards, getting the puck to Ryan McDonagh at the point for a chance. Kreider then headed to the net, and got a fortuitous bounce when the rebound came right to him at the circle for the rebound goal.

Devils 1, Rangers 1

Those were some live boards at The Pebble. Damien Brunner’s point shot on the powerplay went wide, but the boards kicked it right to Jaromir Jagr, who shook off Marc Staal for the easy tap-in.

Devils 2, Rangers 1

Adam Henrique found open space in the Rangers box PK here, and Jagr hit him with the pass that he was able to finish (courtesy of a bounce off Klein). Can’t really fault the Rangers here, they weren’t out of position, Henrique just found the open space.

Devils 3, Rangers 1

Dan Girardi was up a bit too high on the penalty kill, and the Rangers wound up with three guys at the top of the circle by the boards. McDonagh covered the slot, but once Brunner’s pass got past Dominic Moore to Jon Merrill, it was a mini 2-on-1 on McDonagh. McD went to Jagr, for good reason, and Merrill shot it through the eventual screen to beat Hank.

Rangers 2, Devils 3

What a beauty of a pass by Derick Brassard, and a good finish by Mueller. That’s why you want a righty on the off-wing on the powerplay.

Rangers 3, Devils 3

Nash forced Marek Zidlicky into a blind, backhand pass up the middle that went right to Kevin Hayes. He fanned a bit on the shot, and no one picked up Nash cutting from the corner to the front of the net. Nash collected the rebound and tucked it by Schneider to tie the game. The picture on this one came out really blurry, so I didn’t post it.

Rangers 4, Devils 3

Klein joined the rush late as the trailer as Kreider held the puck, drawing both Andy Greene and Dainius Zubrus to him. Kreider dished the puck to Klein, Zubrus’s man, who was able to walk right down the middle and beat Schneider for the winner.

Shift Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Alain Vigneault didn’t have the luxury of the last change last night, but more often than not he was able to get the McDonagh-Girardi pairing out against the Jagr line or the Mike Cammalleri line. Staal and Klein drew one of those lines or the Henrique line. It’s tough to line match when you don’t have the last change, but it’s even tough to line match when half the game (or it at least felt that way) was played on special teams.

Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The Devils actually had a 58% Fenwick-close advantage for the game at even strength, but they couldn’t score at even strength. But there was a ten minute stretch in the third where the Rangers completely dominated even strength play and allowed themselves to tie the game.  They picked it up when it mattered.

The Rangers have now won three in a row to get back above .500. Honestly, this is all you can ask of a team that is missing a top-four defenseman and their top center. Anything above .500 is just gravy. There’s a long layover until the next game, which is Saturday in Montreal.